Motor City Golf Club does not have a complete roster yet, but its first two players have already told us plenty about what Detroit wants its first TGL team to be.
Jackson Koivun was announced Monday as the second member of Motor City Golf Club for the 2027 season, joining five-time major champion Brooks Koepka. Koivun is 21, his professional career is barely underway, and he already owns a PGA Tour victory and an unbeaten Presidents Cup debut.
Courtesy of Motor City Golf Club/TGL
Koepka, meanwhile, has lived through several versions of professional golf. He has won five majors, reached No. 1 in the world and spent years as one of the game’s most recognizable competitors. Now he is working his way back into the PGA Tour ecosystem while adding TGL to the next phase of his career.
Put them together and Motor City has something more interesting than two impressive résumés. It has two players arriving from almost opposite ends of the professional-golf experience, which gives the expansion franchise a personality before the rest of its roster has even been announced.
Koivun Keeps Making the Next Step Look Normal
I have written quite a bit about Koivun this year, and what keeps pulling me back is not simply the winning. It is how quickly a new level seems to stop looking new to him.
Koivun won the 3M Open in July in his third professional start. Two months later, he made his Presidents Cup debut at Medinah Country Club and went 2-0-1 as the United States defeated the International Team, 17-13. His Sunday singles victory over Si Woo Kim came while the Americans were erasing a three-point deficit entering the final session.
There are plenty of young players with extraordinary skill. What separates them over time is usually what happens when golf starts asking something different of them, whether that means winning for a college team, playing for their country, handling Sunday pressure on the PGA Tour or standing over a shot knowing teammates are counting on the result.
Koivun has received those assignments unusually quickly, and so far he has looked comfortable accepting them. That is why TGL feels less like another item being added to his résumé and more like another environment that fits what he has already shown.
He helped Auburn win NCAA Division I team championships in 2024 and 2026, and his team experience also includes the Junior Presidents Cup, Arnold Palmer Cup, Walker Cup and Presidents Cup. Motor City is not taking a young player accustomed only to individual stroke play and dropping him into an unfamiliar format. Koivun has spent much of his elite competitive life playing for something larger than his own score.
“Some of my best experiences have come while playing team golf, from winning national championships at Auburn to representing the U.S. at the Presidents Cup,” Koivun said. “Having teammates alongside you and feeling that energy from the fans makes those moments even better.”
That part of the signing matters because TGL asks for something different than a normal Tour week. Players are talking through decisions, interacting with teammates and reacting in an arena where microphones, cameras and a live crowd make it difficult to disappear quietly into a round.
Koivun appears ready for that part, too.
Helped Auburn win NCAA Division I team championships.
Won the 3M Open in his third professional start.
Went 2-0-1 during his Presidents Cup debut as the United States won, 17-13.
Named the second player on Motor City Golf Club’s inaugural TGL roster.
Koepka Gives Detroit a Completely Different Perspective
Koepka arrives from almost the opposite end of the timeline.
Five major championships have already established what he can do when golf reaches its highest competitive level. His career has also carried him through injuries, enormous expectations, the disruption created by LIV Golf and now a return to the PGA Tour ecosystem.
Motor City made Koepka its first player. At the time, that gave the expansion team an established star with instant recognition. Adding Koivun changes the feel of that first decision because Detroit now has two golfers whose careers invite completely different conversations.
Koepka knows exactly what major championship Sundays feel like because he has repeatedly won them. Koivun is still collecting the first versions of those career-defining experiences, but he has already shown an unusual ability to handle them without looking overwhelmed by the occasion.
That contrast should play well inside TGL. Koepka has never seemed particularly interested in manufacturing a public persona, and some of his appeal comes from that restraint. Koivun, on the other hand, is still being introduced to a much broader golf audience as his professional career accelerates.
A roster filled with four players from the same career stage might look impressive on paper. Koepka and Koivun give Motor City something less predictable.
TGL Can Show Another Side of Koivun
I have become more interested in TGL the more I have watched what happens around the golf rather than judging it strictly by whether it resembles a traditional PGA Tour event.
It should not resemble one.
TGL does not need to replace 72-hole tournament golf, and trying to measure it against that standard misses much of what the format can actually do. Its better opportunity is to create another doorway into professional golf, one where viewers hear more conversation, see more interaction and understand personalities faster than they often can during a conventional tournament telecast.
Koivun fits that concept particularly well because his rise has happened so quickly. Serious golf fans know what he did at Auburn, saw him win on the PGA Tour and watched him go unbeaten at Medinah, but much of the wider sports audience is still learning who he is.
Traditional tournament golf reveals players slowly. Viewers watch shots, decisions, body language and leaderboard movement over several hours, but there are long stretches when the golf itself carries nearly the entire broadcast.
TGL compresses that process. Put Koivun beside teammates, make strategy part of the conversation, expose his reactions and place him in front of an arena crowd, and people get to know something about him beyond the numbers beside his name.
Koivun clearly understands that part of the appeal.
“I am a huge fan of TGL and love how it brings new fans and an arena experience to golf,” he said. “I’ve been to SoFi Center, and it’s unlike anything I’ve experienced in the game.”
That comment interests me more than hearing another elite player simply say he is excited to join a new league. Koivun appears to understand what TGL is trying to do and why being good at golf is only part of making the product work.
Motor City Already Has Something Worth Watching
Motor City Golf Club was announced in May 2025 as TGL’s seventh franchise and first expansion club. It begins competition in 2027, and two roster positions remain open.
Those final selections will determine plenty about how Detroit looks competitively, but the franchise no longer needs to wait for a complete roster to establish an identity. Koepka and Koivun have already given it one.
Koepka represents accomplishment that has already been measured at the highest levels of the game. Koivun represents possibility, although calling him merely a prospect feels increasingly outdated after a PGA Tour victory and an unbeaten Presidents Cup debut.
More importantly for TGL, neither needs the league to create relevance. Koepka already has it, while Koivun has been earning his at a remarkable rate since leaving college golf.
The arena gives each of them another way to show viewers who they are.
Motor City could have started building its inaugural roster by collecting recognizable names. Instead, its first two choices leave us wondering how two very different golfers will play together, communicate together and handle the same unusual competitive environment.
For a team that has yet to hit its first TGL shot, that is a pretty good place to start.
PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on RG.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
